16.5 Core Areas for Policy

NASDA has identified six core areas of a broad, risk management/opportunity-based agricultural policy.  Together they encompass the elements that a comprehensive agriculture policy for the 21st century must include.


  • Farm and Food Security
    Last updated: September 20, 2011

    Federal farm policy should provide an adequate safety net which ensures good producers are not put out of business due to forces beyond their control.  Providing this safety net will assure consumers of a safe, affordable supply of food.

  • Stewardship
    Last updated: September 20, 2011

    Protection of our natural resources and the safety of our food supply is a necessary element to any comprehensive farm and food policy.

  • Market Integrity, Opportunity, and Expansion
    Last updated: September 20, 2011

    Whether in global trade or a local farmers’ market, the integrity of the marketplace in terms of transparency, price discovery, and competitiveness, is paramount.  Farm policy should also focus on what tools are necessary to find new market opportunities, through trade, new uses, or even new technologies from e-commerce to biotechnology.

  • Investments in Critical Needs
    Last updated: September 20, 2011

    These critical needs encompass the infrastructure — both physical and economic — which runs the range from locks and dams, to research, to price discovery.  These are the cornerstones to a viable agriculture sector.

  • Agriculture Flexibility and Partnership
    Last updated: September 20, 2011

    To target and streamline the delivery of services and administration of selected programs to producers, states may assume the responsibility for implementing certain federal programs.  With agriculture flexibility (Ag-Flex), states are encouraged to create innovative solutions to local priorities, with performance based on benchmarks.  The  potential is for a system that benefits federal agencies by better using the inherent local strengths and accountability of the states.

  • Biosecurity
    Last updated: September 20, 2011

    Protection of the security of our nation’s food and agricultural resources from deliberate or accidental introductions of harmful biological, chemical, radiological, incendiary or explosive agents is critical.  Biosecurity needs to include plants, animals, foods produced and stored as well as the equipment and chemical products used in agricultural production.